hi i was bored
i threw this together... in like 15 minutes, been a while so forgive
the real lack of angst and anger...
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"du0d. Let's be friends"
By: y (juuri@well.com)
USENET. Fun. Exciting and New. Come aboard some company
is trying to rape you! It was of course something that couldn't be
avoided... that is USENET advertising. With the influx of society
as a whole we not only get the combined intellects of the world we
get all of the faults it has as well. The problem I have is not
really the Ads themselves. It is the turn they have recently been
taking; friendship ?!
Email is a very personal thing, even when on a mailing list
crammed with hundreds of people it still feels like the email is
coming to you or you are part of the conversation. USENET feels
much the same way. Because of this some "sly" advertisers are using
a new gimmick to try and sell their products. Instead of blatant
advertisements they present themselves as "friends" of the reader
who is "doing a favor" or passing on some "secret info". Take some
of the following examples:
"Hey here is that website I was telling you about..."
"I had the same problem, they answered it at this "
"FOR MY FRIENDS ONLY! "
Those are a few of the more obvious examples and anyone
who can think for themselves should be able to spot them, right?
Well of course they should and the advertisers know this so they
are getting even sneakier. A new technique employed is the moronic
question/answer method. In this simple con turned Internet, someone
uses an account and asks a dumb question... in response some one
replies with a seemingly innocent third party product that fixes
the problem of the first person. This is just one of the new
tricks used by Internet advertisers.
So why the fuss? Why do I care? Why should you care?
Well because unlike the rest of the world advertising on the net
is in it's childhood. Like a child we, as the parents of the net,
can mold and shape the way it develops. Enabling us to have a
medium of communication that isn't brandished with a corporate
logo or slogan at every turn. Of course you can do nothing and
have another television that insults you at every opportunity
or you can put forth just a small amount of effort and make a
real difference...